Crab with contrate (crown and pinion) gear, in wooden frame, c.1790. From the East India Company's Cutler Street warehouses, London. A crab is a small winch for lifting heavy loads.

A crab is a small winch for lifting heavy loads. This one came from the East India Company’s Cutler Street Warehouses, in London. It dates from a time of great development in engineering practice, as exemplified by the Portsmouth blockmaking machinery, and shows that such advances were also being diffused in the wider world. This acquisition is a transfer from the collections of the Museum of London.